Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hoyer, Cornelia
• Zander, Dorothea
• Fleischer, Sandra
• Schilhabel, Markus
• Kroener, Manfred
• Platzer, Mathias
• Clos, Joachim

Titel

A Leishmania donovani gene that confers accelerated recovery from stationary phase growth arrest

Ist Teil von

• International journal for parasitology, 2004-06, Vol.34 (7), p.803-811

Ort / Verlag

Oxford: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2004

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We have isolated a gene, LdGF1, from the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani. Overexpression of this gene confers a strong selective advantage in liquid culture after stationary phase growth arrest. We could show that recombinant L. donovani or Leishmania major, when overexpressing LdGF1, recover faster from a stationary phase growth arrest than control parasite strains. While no advantage of LdGF1 overexpression could be observed in log phase cultures or after a hydroxyurea-induced S-phase growth arrest, recovery from a cell cycle arrest due to serum deprivation was faster in LdGF1-overexpressing strains. This was found to be due to an accelerated release from a G 1 cell cycle arrest. By contrast, in a BALB/c mouse infection system, overexpression of LdGF1 in L. major resulted in reduced virulence. We conclude that increased levels of LdGF1 are beneficiary during recovery from G 1 cell cycle arrest, but pose a disadvantage inside a mammalian host. These results are discussed in the context of the observed loss of virulence during in vitro passage of Leishmania parasites.